About the Project
Cairo. 1943. November. Madame Chiang-Kai Shek is the only woman seated at the table among the heads of the Allied Powers: FDR, Churchill, and her husband the President of the Republic of China. Her husband didn’t speak English, so she was either his translator or… his representative or… her very own leader. But, like all women with power, the Madame was not immune to suspicious claims, accusations, rumors, and name-calling. At times, the Madame was known to have been called Joan of Arc of China, the almond-eyed Cleopatra, but also Lady M. She may have been all of those.
And at the Cairo Conference, the survival of her young nation and the rocky new government depended on her ability to sway the West to come to her aid. Her experience, or lack of, in matters of the military, financing, economics, didn’t seem to faze her and never had. She had survived several grueling tours to the United States to lobby support for China, rallying for money and support from the American public in her genteel Southern accent. She charmed them. But was her charm enough to bring the United States and Britain to her aid? Could she survive the deep-seated allegations of corruption? How did being a childless wife erode her authority? How will she react to the criticism of public opinion both in the U.S. as well as at home in China? Was she the pawn of her husband or vice versa? What about her penchant for designer clothes and furs?
Through smiles with gritted teeth while posing for photographs for historical records, intimate conversations with her husband, private strategizing with close military advisers, and also public diplomatic maneuverings, the Madame works her magic and exposes her deepest insecurities.
Production Team
